PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: The Episcopal Church is ending its partnership with the U.S. government on refugee resettlement, refusing to assist in resettling white South African refugees.
👥 Who’s Involved: The Episcopal Church, Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe, President Donald J. Trump, and 49 Afrikaner refugees.
📍 Where & When: United States, decision announced Monday, refugees arrived the same day.
💬 Key Quote: “In light of our church’s steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation… we are not able to take this step,” said Bishop Sean Rowe.
⚠️ Impact: The move ends a decades-long collaboration and highlights the Episcopal Church’s political agenda.
IN FULL:
The Episcopal Church has announced its decision to cease collaborating with the U.S. government on refugee resettlement, specifically declining to help in resettling white South African refugees. The announcement, made by Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe on Monday, marks the end of a longstanding partnership between the church’s Episcopal Migration Ministries and federal agencies.
The decision coincided with the arrival of 49 Afrikaner refugees in the United States. These individuals were granted priority resettlement status under the Trump administration, allowing them to bypass the typically lengthy waiting periods other groups face.
“In light of our church’s steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation and our historic ties with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, we are not able to take this step,” Rowe stated. He added that the church would conclude its federal refugee resettlement grant agreements by the end of the fiscal year.
President Trump has prioritized resettling white South Africans, after the South African government passed laws allowing it to seize white-owned farmland without compensation, alongside brutal violence directed at Dutch-descended Afrikaners. “It’s a genocide that’s taking place. Farmers are being killed. They happen to be white,” Trump remarked on May 12.
The move by the Episcopal Church comes just months after the Trump administration ended federal funding for Roman Catholic groups who were aiding illegal migrants and asylum seekers. Catholic Migration Services (CMS) would have received nearly $300,000 for the resettling of migrants, but this was suspended in March.
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) announced in February that it would face major layoffs due to its reliance on money from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). President Trump halted USAID funding for a multitude of woke projects and organizations shortly after his inauguration.
Image by Diocese of Bethlehem.
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